There's no quit in the Timberwolves

One day after Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor vowed his team will fight to the season's finish and famously swiped at Kevin Garnett in the process, his team rallied from a 16-point, second-quarter deficit to defeat NBA draft lottery ping-pong ball rival Memphis 98-94 Wednesday night at Target Center.

With their 17th victory of the season and their fifth in the last seven games, the Wolves moved past the Grizzlies and Seattle in the NBA standings, and for the moment own an 11.9 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick in this summer's draft.

They trailed by 16 points twice in the first half's final 70 seconds, but reversed course with a 14-2 burst that started the third quarter and produced their biggest comeback from a halftime deficit (14 points) since they trailed the Lakers by 15 in Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2005.

"I don't know whether we thought we just needed to show up to win or what," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said in a statement perhaps unfathomable just a few short months ago.

Al Jefferson's 49th double-double of the season, guard Randy Foye's 10 rebounds and the Wolves' 60-point second half sent the Grizzlies, especially rudderless since they traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers on Feb. 1, to their 14th loss in the past 15 games. In the first half, Memphis outscored the Wolves 14-0 in fast-break points. In the second half, the Grizzlies had just a 4-2 margin.

"We played two different games," said Memphis second-year star Rudy Gay, who scored 25 points.

Jefferson scored 20 of his 29 points after halftime, blocked two shots in the Wolves' telling run that opened the second half and in the fourth quarter broke Felton Spencer's 17-year-old single-season team record for offensive rebounds with his sixth offensive board of the night.

On Friday in Seattle, Wittman benched Jefferson for much of the third quarter because of his poor defense. After Wednesday's game, he praised Jefferson for his defense the past two games.

"He drew a charge tonight," Wittman said, feigning amazement. "I told him, 'You made the mistake of showing me you can take a charge.' I didn't know he could do it."

His bad, Jefferson said afterward.

"I keep showing him stuff and now he'll expect it," Jefferson said, smiling.

He flourished offensively Wednesday because of what Wittman called his decisiveness and quick action when he caught the ball.

"Tonight, I saw no defense," he said. "I didn't see nothing. Nobody got in front of me."

He also said he would have collected more than 13 rebounds if Foye, the 6-3 guard, hadn't stolen some of his.

"I could have had 20," he said, "if Randy had left any rebounds out there."

• Wolves VP of basketball operations Kevin McHale said this about his owner's comments regarding Kevin Garnett on Tuesday: "Kevin Garnett always played hard for us, always. You never had to worry about that. And in 12 years with both of them, I never heard Glen say anything negative about K.G., ever." That why McHale said he was "astounded" to read comments Taylor made to three reporters before the team's annual photo shoot Tuesday and by the national flap those comments made.

• Jefferson has 273 offensive rebounds this season.

• Forward Ryan Gomes was 1-for-11 from the field when he made a crucial jump shot that started the Wolves on a 6-0 run in the game's final minute. "That was huge," Wittman said. "That's what he's gotta do."